Attention all US-based folks who are appalled that Scientology was granted tax exempt status and want to see it repealed:

The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved a major Freedom of Information (FOIA) reform bill last month. A similar bill was also unanimously approved in the House prior to this one. So there is significant traction right now on bringing an end to government secrecy and ensuring a greater degree of transparency.

Of particular interest for Church of Scientology ex-members, critics, watchers and other SPs on the Senate's FOIA Improvement Act (S. 2520) is a major change to the B(5) exemption. This change basically means a mountain of dox that are always denied under current FOIA rules cannot remain secret forever and must be released after 25 years.

So all those repeatedly denied requests for the files on the secret negotiations between Scientology and the IRS would have to be coughed up and handed over for public disclosure in 2018!

Getting those dox could be a huge boon for those of us interested in lobbying for a renewed investigation into the cult's tax exemption status. But we need to get the current bipartisan bill to pass a full Senate vote. According to social media, Senator Bob Corker (R-Tennessee) and Senator Tom Coburn, M.D (R-Oklahoma) are the major road blocks who are against these reforms.

For more information on exactly what is involved with this bill, check out the must-read links in my next post below. Then if you're from the US, please take the time to go to the following link and harpoon your Senators to support these reforms and vote YES to Senate Bill 2520. It only takes a few minutes:

SUCCESS! Senator Jay Rockfellar (NOT Coburn) has dropped the last hold on this bill going up for a vote. Which might happen as early as Monday. So harpoons encouraging your Senators to vote YES on SB2520 using the Take Action link in the OP above are still needed.

EDIT: Arrggh! I missed the all important *IF* in the following tweet. So my claim of SUCCESS on the final hold lifted was premature. Rockefeller is still a cock blocker on this. But harpooning Senators is still needed.

Since there's speculation Rockfellar's hold has something to do with the FTC, Shawn Musgrave has submitted a FOIA request to the FTC requesting:

Quote

All communications — including emails, memos and reports — regarding the FOIA Improvement Act (S.2520) or related bill FOIA Oversight and Implementation Act of 2014 (FOIA Act, H.R. 1211)that were exchanged with or sent to Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and his staff.

I spoke with a staffer at my Senator's office yesterday. The feeling they have is Rockefeller doesn't want this bill passed for whatever reason, doesn't give a damn what people think, and will retire and collect his pension when his term is done.

Round 2 harpoons need sent to your Representative in the House. There is no handy webpage to automatically do it for you this time, so please see my detailed instructions on one of the following links:

Round 2 harpoons need sent to your Representative in the House. There is no handy webpage to automatically do it for you this time, so please see my detailed instructions on one of the following links: